The Brain is a main enemy of the Teen Titans and the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil. He makes his debut in "Brian". He is also the archenemy of Beast Boy. He is voiced by Scott Menville.
Bio[]
In the Brain's debut episode "Brian", the Titans were locked up in a cell with electric bars and The Brain arrives to check on them. Robin was confident that they will escape anyhow since Brain took away their powers for his secret project in development. When Beast Boy yells at him as Brian, the Brain corrects him and leaves. Robin decides to organize another escape plan which involves Beast Boy, but eventually it fails as Starfire mentions that every time they are trying to escape, they get tortured by electricity.
Back at the Tower, during the party, when Super Robin sees the distress signal, he figures that the Titans were captured and orders the other buddies to go in action. The Little Buddies arrive at The Brain's HQ building on the roof where Super Robin tries to fight against Monsieur Mallah, but fails and the rest of the buddies get captured as well. On the other hand, the Titans are used to living in their cell, except for Robin who tries to reach for the command panel and without any knowledge of what's inside of it, his arm gets crushed resulting him to scream in pain, getting the Brain's attention and tortures the Titans again. The Little Buddies finally team up and defeat Mallah, as they reached the main laboratory after fighting off the security guards. The Titans are still waiting for a miracle to escape, while Robin is digging for a tunnel with a spoon. Eventually, the Little Buddies arrive to rescue them but their moment is interrupted by the Brain whom his project B.R.I.A.N is complete by placing his head in a giant robot filled with three of the Teen Titans' respective abilities, excluding Robin lacking any genuine superpowers. Beast Boy now corrects his misspelling for being called Brian and not B.R.A.I.N.
The Little Buddies are fighting against him but they all get defeated except for Birdarang who transforms himself into a enhanced fighter after Beat Box tried to defend him but got hit. While fighting, he finally throws his head as a boomerang, breaks through the Brain's power cells and kicks his head out of the robot which causes the robot to fall. All the powers are free and return back to its own Titan which eventually they escaped at last. As they reach for their fellow Beat Box laid down on the floor, Cyborg places some new batteries which it turns on again with music this time. The Titans and Little Buddies are celebrating their victory, except for Robin who was left behind in the cell still digging with his spoon.
The Brain re-appeared in the episode "A Farce", where he served as judge in the trial of the Teen Titans. At the end of the episode, the Brain declared that the Titans were found guilty.
In "40%, 40%, 20%", the Titans, except for Cyborg, were captured by the Brain. He had to use Night Begins to Shine to free them.
In "That's What's Up!", he decided to enact his revenge against The Doom Patrol who didn't gain a permit for their clambake by exploiting the laws of the City Council and humiliated them for being degenerates. He even managed to mutate the clams so that he could conquer Codsville. However, with the teamwork of the Doom Patrol, his scheme was foiled and he was forced to serve the guests during the clambake.
In "Rain on Your Wedding Day", he had ordered his soldiers to build a rain-ray so that he could flood Jump City. Contrary to his expectation, his rain-ray ended up replenishing the city and making every citizen overjoyed. He then decided to give up villainy until the Titans except Robin began to misuse "literally", much to he and Robin's chagrin.
In "Villains in a Van Getting Gelato", the Brain joined Gizmo, Doctor Light and Brother Blood on an ice cream gathering, and he told his version of "Shrimps and Prime Rib" on how his power generator was meant to fix a power outage for a soccer field so the children can have their soccer match, although he still stated that his plan was for world domination both times. He later joined his cohorts in trying to attack the Titan Robot to pay back against the Titans.
In "A Doom Patrol Thanksgiving", the Brain abused his role as the thanksgiving parade's marshal to forbid the Doom Patrol from entering the parade. He then decided to imprison the crowds in Codsville so he could take advantage of the holiday season business for himself, by lodging the crowds into cranberry sauces via his float. However, both the Brain and Mallah are horribly defeated by the Doom Patrol's float, and the Brain gets flushed down the toilet.
In "Winning a Golf Tournament Is The Solution to All Of Life's Money Problems", the Brain and Mallah participated in the DC Comics Invitational golf tournament against Cyborg and Robin. Refusing to concede defeat, the Brain and Mallah turned their golf kart into a giant mech robot, but only for both of them being routed by Robin and Cyborg, mostly by Cyborg who hit their kart with the check, and the two male Titans end up taking their kart away.
Brain has his major focus in "The Brain of the Family", where he invited his brother Brian to live with him. He kept tolerating Brian's antics, until Brian told the Brain that he didn't achieve anything great in Metropolis at all. The Brain gave him another chance for preparing the super-suit reveal, but he and Mallah decided to kick Brian out for destroying the suit and the party. However, with Brian misusing the suit instead of letting the Brain and Mallah use it as part of the Henchmen's playground, the Brain realized Brian would actually fully damage the suit beyond repair, so he and Mallah begged the Titans' help by offering them with Mallah's croissants. However, the plan failed after Cyborg and Beast Boy admitted about them and the other Titans holding back just for the croissants, Mallah and Brain descended into an argument with an angry Brian, until they all realized the Henchmen are losing control with Brian's motorcycle. After witnessing how Brian's knitting has saved the Henchmen, the Brain was proud of Brian and accepted him into the family again, and told him to pursue his knitting dream. He even got a cozy sweater from Brian in the end.
Personality[]
The Brain has been a wicked and conniving individual. He knows exactly how to exploit the law such as using his position as judge to declare the Titans' death penalty and to try preventing the Doom Patrol from intervening with his clam mutation by having them arrested for not having a permit. He is also well-prepared, always having Mallah and his soldiers on guard to avoid anyone from attacking him ahead, or even once having Terra as a double-crosser just to trap the girls.
Nonetheless, his conceit is one of his flaws, which often results in his humiliating defeats.
He does have a more tender side towards his henchmen sons. He also spoils his brother Brian frequently, which contrasts his usually cunning demeanor, much to Mallah's chagrin.
Power and Abilities[]
Being limited to only having a brain, The Brain is not a threat physically, but mentally he is a very formidable.
- Super Intelligence: The Brain is arguably one of the smartest characters in the series, being the first villain to successfully capture the Teen Titans off screen by unknown means. He also knows how to exploit loopholes to abuse the law to accomplish what he wants.
- Master Technician: He is able to organize and use his strategic plans very well.
- Leadership: He is the head of The Brotherhood of Evil.
- PROJECT B.R.I.A.N.: Is a super invention of The Brain that uses machinery along with all the powers of the Teen Titans outside of Robin. With The Brain's intellect and the brawn of the robot, The Brain becomes an even bigger threat, easily being able to handle all of "The Little Buddies" until Birdarang's transformation.
- Chemistry manipulation: He knows how to use chemicals to mutate and power up an originally innocuous creature.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
- Brian (debut)
- Campfire Stories (Cyborg's story, cameo)
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
- Shrimps and Prime Rib
- The Streak
- Brain Percentages
- Jinxed (voice only)
- Costume Contest (cameo)
Season 5[]
Season 6[]
- That's What's Up!
- Brain Flip (mentioned)
- Rain on Your Wedding Day
- Huggbees
- Villains in a Van Getting Gelato
Season 7[]
- Space House - Part 4 (cameo in Teen Titans form)
- Fat Cats
- A Doom Patrol Thanksgiving
- 50% Chad
Season 8[]
- Winning a Golf Tournament Is The Solution to All Of Life's Money Problems
- Always Be Crimefighting
- The Brain of the Family
- Our House
- Elasti-Bot (cameos)
- Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary
Appearances in other Media[]
Comics
- Idol Hands (comic debut)
- Starstruck (cameo)
- Beach Party A-Go-Go
- Customer Support
- Teeny Titans
- Teen Titans Go Figure!
- Channel Crashers
- Panic Mode!
- Slash of Justice
Trivia[]
- The Brain was the main antagonist of the original series' fifth and final season, which focused on Beast Boy.
- In the original series, The Brain was voiced by Glenn Shadix, who passed away in 2010. Because of this, he is now voiced by Scott Menville.
- This makes him the fourth character (fifth if Doctor Light in "Colors of Raven" is counted) to not have his original voice actor from the original series reprise his role. (After Silkie, Speedy, and Killer Moth)
- He was also a villain in Batman The Brave and the Bold and Young Justice.
- He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in Batman The Brave and the Bold and Corey Burton in Young Justice.
- The Brain is also the first member of The Brotherhood to appear in a Teen Titans Go! episode. Although appearing in the same episode, Monsieur Mallah came second in appearance.
- He is the twentieth villain from the original series to return.
- The design for the Brain is based on a Dalek, a robotic enemy from the TV series Doctor Who.
- Prior to debuting in the television series, The Brain appeared in a the Teen Titans Go! comic Idol Hands. This makes him the third villain from the original series to debut in a comic before debuting an episode, following Killer Moth and Mumbo Jumbo, with Monsieur Mallah following shortly after.
- In "Black Friday", it is revealed that the Brain has a job at Jump City Electronic.
- The Brain's eyes are shown to be much more expressive than in the original series.
- The Brain has many similarities to Dr. Cerebral from Atomic Betty, who is also a living brain in a robotic body.
- The soundbite of The Brain’s scream from "Brian" is reused in "Operation Dude Rescue", "The Titans Show", and "Shrimps and Prime Rib".
- "Rain on Your Wedding Day" reveals that he loathes people misusing terms for fun.
- In "Always Be Crimefighting", he is revealed to like painting, especially those done by Claude Monet.
- Although mostly living in Jump City, he sometimes live in Codsville as the Doom Patrol's neighbor.
- The Brain and Monsieur Mallah's close relationship and also having adopted the Brain's henchmen might be a reference to how their DC Comics counterparts are romantically involved.
Voice in other languages[]
- Vilmos Papucsek (Hungarian)
- ? (Italian)
- Tiron Valentino (Romanian)
- Adam Krylik (Polish)
- Ricardo Juarez (Brazil)
- Pierre Laurent (French)
Gallery[]
The image gallery for The Brain may be viewed here. |